


Not What I Expected

by nelsbells14



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Development, Eventual Romance, F/M, POV Original Female Character, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26419582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nelsbells14/pseuds/nelsbells14
Summary: Aleia Storm just wanted to have a normal Hogwarts experience. Her parents kept her under watched eyes for most of her life, and she was finally going to be able to have a taste of freedom. But, having Theodore Nott for a cousin and Harry Potter as a best friend can complicate things.Not to mention her strange childhood connection with Draco Malfoy.Will Aleia Storm be able to balance her friendships through all of the challenges? Or will she find herself drawn to the wrong side of the war?----------------------------Based off of the Harry Potter series by JK RowlingGolden Trio eraDraco Malfoy / OFC
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

Aleia spent weeks dreaming about her first year at Hogwarts. Ever since she got her letter, all she could think about was what house she’s going to end up in, the spells she’s going to learn, _finally_ being allowed to ride a broomstick. Her parents never allowed her to fly more than 5 feet off of the ground because it was “too dangerous.” She always found a way around that though.

They took her to Diagon Alley a few days ago to get all of her school supplies. She even met a few first years while picking up her books. They seemed nice, but her parents pulled her away before she could get their names. Always so overprotective.

After they picked up her books, potion supplies and new quills, they took Aleia to Olivander’s to get her wand. It was an… interesting experience, to say the least. When they walked in, he was helping another first year pick out his wand. The boy was accompanied by a giant man, whom her parents greeted warmly.

“Hagrid! It’s so good to see you!” her mother exclaimed, smiling warmly at the bearded man. He had to be at least seven feet tall, maybe even taller than that.

“Good to see ya’ too Elizabeth. You too John.” The man, Hagrid, greeted her mom and dad. “And you must be Aleia.”

“Nice to meet you sir.” She gave a little wave at him, then turned to look at the boy he was with.

Her parents started talking to Hagrid on the side, while Aleia watched the boy test out different wands. He made a little swish with the wand he was holding, and suddenly all of the boxes on the shelf next to him went flying. The boy looked down sheepishly, while Olivander made a little “humph” and went to find another wand.

Aleia went to sit down on a bench near the door, and the boy came to sit by her while he waited for Olivander. He looked nervous, but excited nonetheless. She turned to look at him, and stuck out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Aleia Storm.”

He smiled, shook her hand and said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Harry. Harry Potter.”

She dropped his hand, her jaw dropping.

“Harry Potter? _The_ Harry Potter?” She made a little zig zag motion across her forehead. He went red again.

“Yeah… how does everyone know about that?” He raised a hand to rub at his scar, moving his hair to the side so that Aleia could have a better look.

“Everyone in the wizarding world knows about that! That’s wicked cool.” She turned her eyes away from the scar, beaming at him. “Are you going to Hogwarts as well? It’s my first year.” He nodded at her.

“It’s my first year too.” He turned back to the shelves, looking for Olivander. “That was the third wand he had me try. I’m feeling a bit hopeless here. He said something about – “ he put up two fingers, quoting himself “ – the wand chooses the wizard. Or something like that.”

She raised her eyebrow, just as confused as he was. Her parents walked over, said hi to Hagrid, and motioned for her to go.

“But…” she stared at them. “I haven’t got my wand yet!”

“We can come back, let’s go get your robes first.” Her dad told her, grabbing her hand and waving at Hagrid.

“It was nice seeing you again!” He told Hagrid as they walked out of the shop.

She stopped, turning back at the boy. “I’ll see you on the train Harry!”

And she turned to follow her parents back out into the street.

⚯͛

At last, the day came for her departure to Hogwarts. Her mom fussed over her all morning, making sure she packed everything. She had the house elf – Charlotte – fix up her favorite breakfast while her father took her trunks out to the sitting room. Munching on her French toast, Aleia could barely contain her excitement. She was going. Really going. She’ll be able to walk around the grounds on her own for the first time without having someone shadow her, watching her every move. _Freedom at last._

They took the floo network to the Kings Cross, stepping out onto the platform. Her dad leading them, they walked around the station until they found the pillar between platform 9 and 10. Her parents briefly told her about the process of getting to Platform 9 ¾, but this was the first time going through the barrier and she was a bit nervous.

“Just remember – “ her father told her, turning her shoulders to face the wall. “ – go straight towards the middle and you’ll go right through.” She nodded, took a deep breath and pushed her cart through the wall.

The Hogwarts Express appeared in front of her. She gaped at it, shocked. There were so many students around her with their families, packing their trunks onto the train or waving goodbye. She turned around and saw her parents appear behind her as they pushed her forward, getting closer to the train doors. Her mother grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.

“My daughter is growing up!” She cried, running her hand through Aleia’s dark locks.

“Mum….” She groaned. “You’ll ruin my hair. You spent so much time curling it this morning.”

Her mom let her go, sniffed and gave her a small smile. Her dad put a hand on her shoulder and said “We’re so proud of you sweetheart. You’ll do great there. Remember to write us at least once a week, okay?” He lowered his voice, “and don’t forget, your cousin Theo should be starting this year as well. Don’t let him bother you too much.” Her dad reached up and ruffled her hair. Damn. She forgot about cousin Theo.

The train gave a loud whistle, letting them know it was time to go. She gave both of her parents one last hug and got on the train, waving back at them. As the train began to move, she made her way down the hall to find an empty compartment. Most of them were full, but she managed to find an empty one towards the end of the train. Aleia sat down and gazed out the window at the passing hills. The compartment door opened again, and she turned to see a platinum blonde boy standing there with a smirk on his face.

“Hey, we need this compartment. Get out.”

She glared at him. This kid was obviously a first year, and he already thinks he can boss people around? She ignored him, rolled her eyes and looked back towards the window. Instead of leaving, he made his way in front of her and waved his hand in front of her face.

“Hello? Anyone there?” the two boys behind him laughed stupidly.

“I can hear you just fine, thanks. I’m not moving.” She crossed her arms.

“Do you know who I am?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “My dad is Lucius Malfoy. My name is Draco Malfoy.” He looked at her, waiting to see her response.

Aleia sighed. Of course he would be a Malfoy.

“Oh yes, I know your father. I really don’t care.” She sat back again relaxing in her seat.

The boy looked shocked. Frowning, he opened his mouth to argue when someone else came by the door. She looked up.

“Theo?!”

The new visitor blinked at her, surprised. Then he grinned and pushed his way to the seat next to her.

“Cousin! Long time no see!” He threw his arm around her, still smiling as he looked up at Malfoy. “Glad to see you’ve met my best friend! Draco, this is my cousin Aleia.”

She grabbed her bag, shrugged off Theo’s arm and gave him her best fake smile. “Oh yes, _so_ nice to see you again Theo. Especially since the last time I saw you, you tossed me into the lake. Great times. I’m leaving.” Pushing past Malfoy, she made her way out of the compartment to look for somewhere else to sit. _Anywhere_ else but there. Walking down the hall again, she looked into one of the compartments and saw a familiar face.

“Harry!” Opening up the door to his compartment, she smiled at him. “Told ya I’d see you on the train.”

“Hey!” He patted the seat next to him, welcoming her to join his group. She looked around and saw another boy in the compartment with him. He had the brightest red-orange hair, freckles and blue eyes. “This is Ron Weasley. Ron, this is Aleia Storm.” They shook hands.

“Ron was about to show me a spell he was working on over the summer.” Harry told her. “He’s trying to turn his rat yellow.”

Before Ron could start on the spell, another person opened the door. It was another first year girl. Bushy hair, glasses, with an “I know everything” look on her face. “Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one.” she asked them. They shook their heads. She glanced down at Ron’s wand. “Are you doing magic? Let’s see it then.”

Ron looked at her as she came further into the compartment. Turning back to his rat, concentrating, he chanted, “Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!”

Nothing happened.

Hermione, losing interest went to look at the other people around her, eyes landing on Harry. “You’re Harry Potter!”

Harry looked at her and nodded.

“I’m Hermione Granger. I’ve read all about you, you’re in Modern Magical History and the Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding events of the twentieth century!”

He looked puzzled by this. Hermione turned her attention to Aleia. “And who might you be?” She asked kindly.

Aleia looked up at her. “Um. Im Aleia Storm.” Hermione gave her a friendly smile, and she gave one back.

“It’s so great to meet other first years. I hope to be in the same house as you all. I will see you later.” She walked out.

Eyes getting heavier by the minute, Aleia moved to rest her head against the wall and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter Two- Agreements

_Her first thought was “this is not what I expected.”_

When they got off of the train the first years followed the giant man she met in Diagon Alley, Hagrid, to small boats on the edge of the lake. There were about twenty boats, and in groups of six or seven they began to move.

“I can’t believe they’re making us ride in these tiny boats.” She heard someone grumble. Turning, she saw that it was Malfoy complaining in another boat. Her cousin laughed at him.

“Just suck it up Draco. We’re almost there anyways.” He told Malfoy.

She looked away from them and began searching for the castle.

“Are we almost there Hagrid?” She asked. Hagrid was on the same boat she was, along with Harry, Ron and Neville – the boy that lost his toad.

“Yup. Shouldn’ be more than a few minutes now.” Hagrid announced.

Suddenly, she began to see small specks of light in the distance. As they got closer, the castle emerged from the darkness. It was the most beautiful place Aleia had ever seen. There were several large towers, which reflected off of the surface of the lake. Beyond the castle, she could see the castle grounds, the greenhouses and open areas she couldn’t wait to explore. Even Malfoy stopped complaining.

They got off of the boats at the shore of the lake and made their way into the castle. Another giant door opened, and from the looks of it she guessed this was the main dining hall. There were 4 long tables where the older students were already seated. At the front, all of the teachers peered over their table to look at the upcoming students. She looked up, there were candles floating in mid-air. Behind, that was the sky.

Wait… the sky?

She blinked hard, and realized that it wasn’t the actual sky, but just another spell to make it look like the ceiling was open. Hermione whispered to her, “it’s bewitched to match the weather outside. I read about that over the summer.”

Aleia nodded and followed the rest of the first years into a room on the side of the great hall. Another teacher was waiting for them there.

“Good Evening students. I am Professor McGonagall.” She greeted them. She looked really strict, and everyone fell silent.

“In a few moments we will begin the sorting ceremony. Each student will come up to the front to be sorted into the house that they will be in for the next seven years of their time here. Once we are finished, we will start the feast.” She clasped her hands together and walked back into the hall. All of the students began whispering to themselves.

“How do you think we’ll be sorted?”

“What kind of task do you think they’ll make us do?”

Aleia wasn’t worried at all. Her parents already told her how the sorting works. She leaned against the wall, waiting for the ceremony to start. She was hungry and getting impatient. Over her shoulder, she heard that Malfoy boy talking to Harry, but she was too far away to hear anything they were saying.

⚯͛

Professor McGonagall came back after a few minutes and began leading the first years back into the great hall. She called them up one by one, each student sitting on a small stool in front of everyone and putting on an old wizard hat.

 _That cannot be sanitary._ She thought to herself, shuttering.

And then, her name was called.

“Aleia Storm?” McGonagall echoed. She walked up to the stool and sat down. She scrunched her nose a bit when the hat was placed on her, remembering what she thought earlier.

_Are you assuming that I am not cleaned every year, Miss Storm?_

Aleia gasped, looking around. She heard a little chuckle in her ear. Of course, it was a talking hat. Her parents failed to mention that part.

_Your parents… John and Elizabeth… am I correct?_

She nodded. The hat continued.

_Both great Slytherin students… I have often wondered what their path may have been if I had placed them elsewhere. You, like them have a brave heart that rivals the best Gryffindors... you are quite clever… you would excel in Ravenclaw…_

Waiting nervously, she began to tap her leg. She honestly did not have a preference to which house she would end up in. Just not Hufflepuff. The students on that end seemed a bit too happy for her liking. The hat chuckled again.

_But of course… you would put yourself first before others… and your drive for personal success overshadows everything else. You will be best fit in… Slytherin!_

The Slytherin table stood up and cheered. She noticed that the rest of the students just clapped politely for her, glaring at the other students on her table. She was walking down the table to find an empty seat when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm as she passed. Stumbling a bit before sitting down, she looked up to tell off whoever grabbed her. It was Theo.

“Come and sit by us, cousin!” He smiled at her, even as she rolled her eyes and scooted farther away from him.

The rest of the feast passed without incident, with Theo introducing her to the other first years on their table.

“You already met Draco…” He looked up and glared at her, and she scowled back not saying anything. Theo continued, shrugging his shoulders.

“And this is Daphne Greengrass.” He gestured to the girl across from him. She smiled brightly at Aleia and waved.

“Nice to meet you Aleia! I already know were going to be great friends”

Aleia just nodded back and smiled. She had too much food in her mouth to say anything back.

She scanned the hall to look for the other first years she met on the train and found that almost everyone else was sorted into Gryffindor. She sighed. It wasn’t like she hated Gryffindors, but her parents had already warned her about the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

She had plans to change that though.

⚯͛

Once the feast was over, the Slytherin prefects lead them to her new common room. While all of the other students began going up different staircases, the Slytherins walked down a staircase towards the dungeons. So much for pretty views of the lake.

They walked all the way down the tunnel until they reached a stone wall. The prefects announced the password – _Basilisk._

The stone wall rearranged itself into an entrance, and they all walked in. Aleia was in awe again.

The walls were covered with intricate stone carvings. There were candles lining the wall, and beautiful green stain glass windows. With a jolt she realized that right outside those windows was the black lake. The ceilings were high, and there was a huge fireplace in the middle of the room, separating two other doorways she assumed lead to the dormitories.

The prefects went over the rules – no boys in the girl’s dormitories, no alcohol, no flying in the common room… and then they smirked.

“But nobody follows those anyways. Just don’t be a snitch, and everyone will get along just fine.” One of the prefects said. The other prefect went around a table on the side and brought out crates of butterbeer. Everyone cheered. Aleia went to grab one and joined the girls she met earlier by the fire. She sat next to Daphne, who grinned up at her.

“Have you ever had butterbeer before?” Daphne asked her.

“Nope. My parents kept their liquor cabinet locked up.” She said, giggling as she took her first sip of the bubbly drink.

Soon, Theo and his friends came by to sit by them. She was glad that most of his friends were really nice to her, asking questions like where she grew up, what classes she was most excited for, who her roommates were… Aleia perked up, remembering something.

“I forgot to ask…” she looked at Daphne. “Do you know who you’re rooming with?”

Daphne looked at her bemusedly. “Didn’t I mention at dinner that you’re rooming with me and Tracey?”

“She was too busy eating everything on the table to hear anyone.” Theo snorted, while Aleia turned pink.

“I was starving!” she sputtered.

She was starting to feel the unfamiliar buzz from the alcohol and decided to get up.

“I’m going to try to walk this off before going to bed.” She told everyone, walking to the door.

“Don’t forget if you get caught wandering, we already told you about curfew!” one of the prefects told her. She threw them a thumbs up and made her way to the door.

“Aleia wait!” someone called from behind her. “Draco come on”

She glanced over her shoulder to see Theo and Draco walking towards her.

“I can’t let my little cousin walk around by herself!” Theo winked at her. Aleia groaned.

“That was the whole reason for me leaving.” She muttered, walking out of the entrance into the dark tunnel. She ran her hand against the wall as she walked, feeling for something…

Before she left for Hogwarts, her mom told her about a little secret passage within the Slytherin tunnel that lead to a small cave overlooking the black lake. She was shocked that her mom was telling her this, especially with how overprotective they were with her at home.

“I trust that you’ll be safe.” Her mom went on, “this is just a calming place I would go to clear my head.”

Back in the tunnel, she continued to run her hand along the wall while Theo and Draco followed her, confused. And then she found it. A little notch in the wall that swung open to reveal the passage.

“Aleia what the hell?” Theo gaped at her. Winking at him, she strolled into the tunnel. She turned to look at the pair, who was still standing at the entrance and snickered.

“Well? Are you coming or not?”

The trio made their way through the passage until it opened into a medium sized cave. There was black sand lining the shoreline where the water from the black lake met the rocks. A couple of torches lined the wall, similar to the common room but they didn’t know enough magic yet to light it. They sat close to the water, gazing out at the night with the silver light from the moon shining into the cave. Her mom was right. It was peaceful here. Quiet. Until Theo opened his big mouth again.

“How in the world did you know about this place?”

“My mom. She told me it was a place she used to go to be alone.” She murmured softly.

They sat quietly again for a bit, and then Theo spoke up again.

“Wanna make a bet?” he asked. Aleia pulled her legs towards her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Even Malfoy looked somewhen intrigued.

“What kind of bet?”

He cleared his throat. “Since this is our first year, and we need to show our parents that we’re not complete gits. Whoever gets the best grades in our year wins. Not counting other houses.”

“And what exactly will the prize be if we do win?” Malfoy sneered at him. “Bragging rights?”

Theo went silent for a bit, face deep in thought.

“How about, whoever gets the best grades gets bragging rights AND rights to this cave for the rest of the year?” she decided, remembering that she came here to be alone in the first place. The other boys nodded.

“Okay, it’s a deal then!” Theo announced, shaking her hand.

Aleia shook her head and looked out at the water again. It’s going to be a long year.


	3. Chapter Three - Invitations

The month went by quickly. Aleia, true to the bet had been doing well in all of her classes. Charms and potions were among her best subjects. One day in charms class, they had to perform a spell called _Alohamora._ She was sitting next to Hermione, who was partnered with Ron. Ron was having a difficult time with the spell, and Hermione tried to correct his pronunciation. Even Aleia tried giving him tips, but he was so annoyed that he told them off, saying “Why don’t you two try it then if you’re so perfect at it?”

Hermione and Aleia looked at each other and grinned wickedly. They both did so well that Professor Flitwick came over and gave them both 10 points each.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you can be a Slytherin.” Hermione sighed. “You’re so nice to everyone, even muggle borns like me.”

Aleia stopped walking. “Hermione you are one of the most talented people I have ever met, I have no reason to be mean to you.” She told her assuredly.

“Neither does Malfoy, but he always has something cruel to say when I’m around.” She sniffed.

Speaking of Malfoy, his cringe-worthy attitude had not changed since the first day. Even though Theo had told him to ease up on her, he was relentless. It’s as if he went out of his way to rain on her parade. All of the other Slytherin students loved Aleia. She always had someone to sit with at meals, and she nearly always had a group with her in the common room. Even students from the other houses got along with her- inviting Aleia to hang out in other house common rooms, or around the school grounds. By the beginning of October, Aleia had visited every common room at least once. Ravenclaw’s common room was her favorite. Dark blue carpet, giant arched windows, and a beautiful domed ceiling speckled with stars. Her mingling with other houses caused quite a stir for the first few weeks, but everyone got over it eventually.

Everyone except Malfoy.

Just last week in potions, Aleia was sitting on a table with a couple of Ravenclaw students. They were brewing a simple potion, talking about their common room when Malfoy began to throw insults at her from the table over.

“How can she call herself a Slytherin, entertaining low-life Ravenclaws over there like she has nothing better to do. She has absolutely no loyalty to her own house.” He drawled, glaring at her again.

Theo nudged him and gave him a warning look.

“What?” he laughed maliciously, a gleam in his eye. “She would probably rather be a Ravenclaw, seeing how she loves to talk about them so much.”

Aleia felt her irritation building.

“Just ignore them.” One of the Ravenclaw boys told her, putting a hand on her shoulder as if to shield her from Malfoy. Malfoy gasped dramatically, clutching at his chest.

“Ooh, Aleia’s got herself a Ravenclaw boyfriend, how adorable!” Anger building over, she whirled to face him when Professor Snape came around.

“What seems to be the problem here?” he asked sharply. Nobody spoke.

Snape turned to look at Malfoy saying, “maybe if you spent more time working on your potion Mr. Malfoy, you’d be much farther ahead.”

Malfoy turned red and, after glaring at Aleia once more, turned back to his potion.

He hasn’t bothered her since.

⚯͛

Halloween was coming up, and the teachers had planned a Halloween dance for the students. The theme was “into the woods,” which was ironic because students were banned from the forbidden forest. The plan was to have the dance after the feast. But then things got wild.

In the middle of the feast Professor Quirell, the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher came running into the dining hall screaming something about a troll being in the dungeons. All of the students were rushed back to their common rooms. The Slytherins were to stay in the dining hall, guarded by a few of the teachers since their dormitories were in the dungeons.

And so they sat as the other teachers went running to find the troll.

The Slytherins were whispering amongst each other, sharing different theories on how the troll got into Hogwarts in the first place.

“I bet someone let the thing in to attack the Slytherins _!”_ One student shouted.

“I bet fifty points that it was that Potter kid that let him in, so that he could play hero and pretend to defeat it.” Draco snarled. A few of his friends nodded in agreement.

Getting annoyed again, Aleia changed the subject. “Do you think were still having the dance? It’s still pretty early, the dance wasn’t supposed to start until 8.”

Daphne groaned. “That would mean we would only have two hours to get ready!”

Theo examined her, squinting his eyes. “It takes you more than two hours to get ready?”

“Duh.” Daph shot back, like it was obvious. “It takes time to look this gorgeous.” She said as she flipped her hair back. A couple of guys whistled at her.

Suddenly, the teachers came walking back into the dining hall. Professor Snape let them know it was safe to go back to the common room, and that the dance would still be held at 8. Daph squealed in excitement and rushed them back to the rooms.

Their dormitory wasn’t that amazing, since they had just moved in not too long ago and didn't have time to personalize the room yet. There were three beds in their room, one for Daph, one for Aleia and one for Tracy. Their beds were beautiful though, Aleia had to admit. It was a four post bed with emerald green curtains on each side for privacy. Their beddings were the same emerald green, with silver embroidery carefully designed on top. They each had their own trunk and side table. Aleia had a few books from home on hers, and a small night lamp that shined stars on the ceiling that her mom had sent her at the beginning of the school year.

Daphne set to work. She loved to play with makeup and would use Aleia all the time as a test subject.

“Don’t be too dramatic with it this time Daph, faeries don’t wear makeup.” Aleia glanced at the time. “And we don’t have too much time either.”

“Quit worrying you’re stressing me out.” Daph grumbled.

They had planned to go to the dance as forest faeries. They all wore dark green dresses, but in different styles. Aleia’s dress had a halter top and fell right above her knees. She put her hair in a low, loose bun and wore a small circular crown that looked like silver branches intertwined with each other. The three of them had learned a spell from Professor Flitwick to grow wings. It was a simple spell and they weren’t able to fly with them, but it gave the appearance of delicate faery wings.

“You both look amazing!” gasped Daphne, almost in tears looking at her handiwork.

“You look great too Daph! And you Tracy!” Daphne’s dress was an off the shoulder styled dress, with billowing sleeves on each side. Tracy’s dress was strapless and floor length, making her appear taller than she really was.

They walked down to their common room to meet the others. The boy’s decided to dress as “Slytherin Princes”. Each of them wore a black suit with a black cape flowing behind them. They wore green ties and had slicked their hair back. It was to give them the “regal” effect. Aleia snorted at that.

As they were about to walk out of the common room, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side. She swept around to see who it was and…

“Malfoy?”

He looked annoyed. He dragged her to the side of the room and took a small parcel out of his pocket.

“Look, this wasn’t my idea.” He shoved the parcel in her hand. “My parents are inviting your family to our manor for our new year celebration. Apparently, they know each other.”

She looked at him shocked. “They what? But how would they even – my parents never mentioned anything…” she stammered.

“I don’t know Aleia, your guess is as good as mine. Let’s just go and get this dance over with.” And he walked out of the entrance. She was thinking so hard about New Years and her parents that she didn’t even notice that Malfoy had called her by her name for the first time.

⚯͛

Aleia walked alone to the dance. Letting the others walk in front of her until they were out of side, she made a small detour to the courtyard and sat on one of the benches under a tree. It wasn’t dark at all, someone had placed lights all around the tree so that it was glowing in the night. She just needed to think.

She knew one thing, her father knew Lucius Malfoy. He had mentioned his name a few times at home, but once they saw Aleia peeking around the corner they changed the subject immediately. But why would they all of a sudden invite her family to their manor, after all these years? Lost in thought, she didn’t realize that she was no longer alone until someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Aleia? You okay?” It was Hermione.

“Yeah I’m okay.” She moved to look at Hermione when she saw all of the cuts and bruises on her face and arms. “Merlin’s beard Hermione what happened to you? That’s either a really good costume or something must have happened.”

Hermione leaned her head to the side a bit and paused, thinking about her answer. Then she sighed and explained. “Harry and Ron rescued me in the girl’s bathroom from the troll that got into the castle.”

“They WHAT?” Welp, turns out Malfoy was half right. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Ron was able to knock the giant out with it’s own bat. Guess he performs better under pressure.” Hermione yawned. “I’m going to head back to my common room, are you going to the dance?

“I was on my way, I just needed some time to think. Glad you’re okay, I’ll see you in class?” she questioned.

Hermione nodded and left to her dormitories. Aleia sighed, got up and made her way to the dance.

⚯͛

The great hall had literally turned into a forest.

There were giant trees scattered around the room, with lights draped along their branches. The long tables were replaced with circular ones that resembled tree trunks. Little lanterns floated around giving the room a soft glow. Even the floor, which was usually hardwood was transformed to look like dirt with leaves scattered on the ground. Giant pumpkins made up the entrance, creating a pathway to walk in.

Aleia looked around, trying to find Daphne and the others. She spotted them on one of the circular tree stump tables and walked over.

“What took you so long?” Daphne questioned her as soon as she sat down.

“I… ran into someone.” She stammered. Daphne stared at her disbelieving, but thankfully dropped it.

“Did you hear? Apparently, Potter and his friends ran into the troll. That mudblood Hermione went looking for it, and Potter and Weasley came to her rescue!” Malfoy sneered.

Aleia punched his arm. “Don’t call her that!” she huffed at him, glaring.

“Oh I forgot, you’re friends with the mudblood.” Draco taunted her, repeating that same insulting word again.

Not wanting to ruin her mood, Aleia stood up and grabbed Daphne. “Let’s go dance!”

Daphne didn’t argue. A few of the other Slytherin girls followed them to the dance floor, which was in an open area surrounded by trees. The floor glowed with every step they took. Forgetting about Malfoy and the troll, she was able to let loose and laugh with her new friends.

 _Friends._ She thought back to her life before Hogwarts. Growing up, Aleia didn’t have much friends. The closest thing she had to an actual friendship was Theo, and she only saw him once or twice a year. Her parents had always kept her in the house. Even when they took her shopping, she would always have her mom or her dad at her side. Having this much freedom at Hogwarts was exhilarating, even though it scared her a bit.

Brushing her thoughts to the side and not wanting to overthink things, she let herself enjoy the rest of the dance.


	4. Chapter Four - Letters

Aleia woke up the next morning after the dance tired and grouchy. She had the worst headache in the world, which didn’t help her mood. Rolling out of bed, she started getting ready. It was a gloomy day; the sun wasn’t shining on the lake like it usually did. She peered over at her roommates – they both were still asleep.

It was the perfect opportunity for some well-deserved alone time.

Grabbing one of her books and a sweater, she snuck out of the dormitories quietly into the common room. It was almost empty, just a couple of students were passed out on the armchairs by the fire. Good. Nobody would see her walk out.

 _It must be really early in the morning_ , she thought to herself. Treading carefully, she made it out of the common room in search of that notch in the tunnel wall that would lead to her favorite spot. She hasn’t gone there often, maybe a total of four times this year including today.

Finding the opening, she wandered in with the intention of spending a nice quiet morning studying. What she didn’t expect to see was Malfoy already sitting in _her_ cave. She stomped over to him. He looked up at the noise, eyes widening in surprise.

“What are _you_ doing here?” they said at the same time. Pausing, they stared at each other and started to laugh. It was the first time Aleia heard him laugh normally, most of the time he would laugh maliciously. But here, he didn’t sound so mean. She sat across from him, pulling on her sweater. The temperature had dropped within the last few weeks and it was getting cold.

“I came here to study for a bit somewhere quiet.” Aleia glanced at him. He wasn’t looking at her. He was staring out at the lake, the sun slowly creeping over the horizon.

“Well, don’t let me interrupt you then.” He responded.

Aleia opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it. She wasn’t in the mood to argue. Turning away from him, she began to read _Hogwarts, A History_. Malfoy just sat there in silence. The sun had begun shining into the cave, cascading them in golden light and warmth. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her cold face.

“I’ve been coming here once a week.” He stretched his legs out in front of him. “Just to watch the sunrise. It’s…” he broke off.

“Peaceful?” she added in. He blinked at her.

“Yeah. Peaceful.” He went quiet again. “My mom mentioned your mom a few times, before we started this year.”

“Really? What did she say?” Aleia watched him, his face thoughtful as he tried to remember.

“She said… that your mom was one of her close friends until something happened and they stopped talking. She was really excited that you were in the same year as me.”

She looked at him curiously. He mentioned her to his mom?

Malfoy must have guessed what she was thinking because he rolled his eyes and continued. “I told her that Nott had a feral cousin that he brought along everywhere.”

She burst out laughing at this. The corner of Malfoy’s lips twitched a bit as he went on. “Anyways, she wrote me to give you the invitation so that she can see your mom again. A few of the other people in our group will be there too, so it won’t be so bad.”

“I’ve never been to any type of event. Honestly, I’ve barely stepped out of my house until I came to Hogwarts.”

Malfoy observed her carefully. “And why exactly is that? So you wouldn’t run away?” It was her turn to roll her eyes at this.

“Of course not. My parents just wanted to keep me safe, that’s all. From what, I have no idea.” She grabbed her book and got up.

“It’s almost time for breakfast. You coming?” she asked him. He shook his head.

“No. Not with you.” He smirked. And he was back to being an annoying git. She started walking back to the tunnel entrance, making a rude hand gesture on her way out. Malfoy roared with laughter at this, his voice echoing through the passage as she made her way to breakfast.

⚯͛

With her headache gone and her mood considerably lighter, Aleia piled her plate with food. Her eyes wandered around the great hall as she ate, locking eyes with Hermione. She smiled and waved at her, making a mental note to ask her how she was feeling since the troll incident. The rest of her table began to trickle in, a few of them greeting her as they sat down.

“Did you forget to eat dinner or something?” Theo joked, sliding himself in the seat next to her. She scowled at him.

“Who made you the food police?” She shoveled another forkful of food into her mouth. “I’m trying to grow here.”

Theo shook his head and started talking to Blaise, another Slytherin first year.

“Are you going to the Malfoy’s New Years party?” she heard him ask Theo.

“Yeah, we go every year.” He responded. “Aleia here is going too.” She choked on her food.

“I didn’t even send the invitation to my parents yet!” she croaked. “I doubt they’ll let me go, you know how my parents are.”

“But- they have to!” Theo whined. “I want my second best friend to be there!”

“You ask them then.” Aleia snapped. He laughed.

“Hell no. Your parents scare me.”

⚯͛

She sent the invitation to her parents after breakfast. The owlery was empty when she went in. She searched for her small white owl Lola and found her perched next to another slightly bigger white owl. Smiling at her, she gave her a treat before tying the envelope to her leg. Along with the invitation, she wrote her parents a letter.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_I am having so much fun here at Hogwarts. Even though I’m in Slytherin, I made a lot of friends in the other houses as well. I even got to explore their common rooms! Ravenclaw’s room was my favorite. When I come home for Christmas break, I want to paint my ceiling to look like their common room. Do you think Charlotte could help me with that?_

_Speaking of Christmas break, I received an invitation to the Malfoy’s New Year’s Celebration from their son Draco. He said that his parents would like you to accompany me. I put the invitation in the envelope with this letter, they said to send a reply with Lola if we can make it._

_I really miss you guys. I’ll see you soon._

_Aleia_

After watching Lola fly off, she hung around the owlery for a bit looking out at the view. They owlery tower was almost as tall as Ravenclaw’s tower and overlooked the mountains behind the castle. She thought about home again. As much as she missed her parents, she knew that once she went home she would miss being able to walk around as she pleased. She heard someone walking up the stairs. It was Harry.

“Hi Harry!” She greeted him warmly. “Are you sending a letter too?”

“Huh? Oh- “ he glanced at her. “No, I’m just here to visit Hedwig.” He motioned to the other white owl that was sitting next to Lola earlier.

“So that’s Hedwig! She seems to be good friends with my owl Lola.” She mused.

“Where is your owl?” Harry asked.

“I’ve just sent her to deliver a letter to my parents.”

Giving her a wry smile, he took a seat next to Hedwig. “I wish I had family to send letters to.” He mumbled. Aleia felt her heart break a little. Though her parents were strict on her, she couldn’t imagine her life without them.

“I can’t begin to understand what you went through.” She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But I’m a pretty good listener if you need someone to talk to. You can send me letters if you want!” she offered.

Harry gave a little chuckle.

Aleia continued, “It’ll be like having a pen pal!” She held her hand out at him, and he shook it.

“Okay, deal.” He grinned at her.

“I’ll send you a letter as soon as Lola gets back!” she told him, walking out of the owlery.

“I’ll send you one too!” Harry called back to her, but she was already out of the door.

⚯͛

In the weeks before Christmas break, Aleia put all of her focus on school. She spent most of her time in the library studying or roaming the grounds for a quiet place to read. There was a small area next to the greenhouses that she loved to spend her time. It was a small garden with different varieties of plants and flowers covered by a large willow tree. She sat on one of the benches under the tree and began to write. Shortly after their pen pal agreement, Harry had sent her a short letter.

_Aleia,_

_Thanks for being a good friend. Holidays are always hard for me hearing everyone talking about going home for the break. I’m staying here at Hogwarts. Ron is staying with me too, so I won’t be so alone. What are you doing for the Holidays?_

_Harry_

Aleia wrote back that she was going home for the holidays and how she was planning on painting her room to look like Ravenclaw’s common room. Finishing the letter, she placed it in her bag and took out her Potions homework. Potions was one of her hardest subjects. Theo and Malfoy’s success in that class had made it even more unbearable. Although, Professor Snape was a lot nicer to her than he was to the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students. He was the head of house for Slytherin so she wasn’t that surprised by his obvious prejudice. She was halfway through her essay when she noticed it was getting dark.

She stopped by the owlery to drop off the letter then went down to dinner.

⚯͛

She still hadn’t received a reply from her parents since she sent the letter with the invitation. She started to feel a little worried until Lola had visited her during breakfast the morning before Christmas break with two letters this time – one from Harry and one from her parents. She put the letter from Harry in her bag and opened the other.

_Hi sweetheart,_

_We’re glad to hear you’ve made so many friends. I’m sure Charlotte would love to help you redecorate your room._

_We’ll talk about the invitation when you come home for break._

_Love you,_

_Mom and Dad_

“So? What’d they say?” Theo had asked her once she finished reading the letter.

“Nothing. They said we’ll talk when I come home.”

Theo groaned. “That’s just a nice way of saying no!”

Shaking her head, she huffed. “I told you they would say no.”

Truthfully, Aleia really had wanted to go to the celebration. Daphne would be there, along with her other Slytherin friends and it would have been her first time hanging out with friends outside of school. She would have to convince her parents somehow once she went home.


	5. Chapter Five - Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small note just to mention: These Harry Potter text icons are so cute!! ⚯͛ ⚯͛  
> Longest chapter so far. Hope you enjoy!

“Aleia! Aleiaaaaaaa pay attention to meeee…” Theo whined.

“Bloody hell Theo what. Do. You. Want.” Aleia bit out through clenched teeth.

They were on the Hogwarts Express going back home. It was almost depressing, knowing that she was going to be away from her outlet of freedom for two whole weeks. She was excited to see her parents, but at the same time she knew that she would be bored out of her mind for a while.

And then, there was the fact that she had to convince her parents to go to the New Years’ celebration. When she read the letter to the table a few days ago, Theo was not having it. Since that day, he kept giving her unwarranted advice on how to convince her parents to go to the party. Even if his ideas were completely ridiculous.

“I know! You can use the imperious curse on them!” he said excitedly.

“Theo! Shut it! You know that’s illegal. I would never do that to my own parents.” She slouched in her seat. “I’m just going to tell them that I would really like to go. And we’ll see what happens.”

⚯͛

When they got off of the train, Aleia’s parents were already standing there waiting. She ran into her mother’s arms. Embracing her, she felt tears starting to build up. She had never been away from her parents for more than a day, and she missed them. She turned to her father, who was talking with Theo. He had his hand on Theo’s shoulder; they looked like they were having a serious conversation. Theo nodded solemnly, glanced at Aleia and walked away. Her father began walking towards her as if nothing happened.

“My favorite little girl is home!” he teased, wrapping his arms around her and spinning around.

Aleia giggled. “I’m your only little girl dad.”

“I still mean it all the same. How was school?”

She told them about the past few months, telling them about her classes and her professors. They listened intently, jumping in sometimes to tell her how they had the same professors and agreeing with her about how difficult potions is. She mentioned all of her friends in the other houses – about how smart Hermione is even if she is muggle born, and meeting Ron and Harry. She talked their entire journey home, and through dinner as well.

They were relaxing in the sitting room when she finally mustered up the courage to ask about the invitation.

“So… what do you think about the invitation?”

Her parents stilled. They gave each other a look, then her mom said, “You know honey, it’s getting a bit late. How about we talk about this tomorrow?”

Aleia had questions, but she didn’t press them on it. She nodded, bid them goodnight and went to bed.

⚯͛

They didn’t talk about it the next day. Or the day after that. Every time Aleia had tried to bring it up, they would change the subject or make an excuse or pretend like they didn’t hear her. She was getting so annoyed at this. Why did they not want to talk about this? What are they trying to hide?

Aleia attempted to bring it up while she painted her ceiling with Charlotte on Christmas morning. Her parents had gone out before she woke up, leaving a note that they would be home later that day.

“Hey Charlotte?” she asked.

“Yes, Miss Storm?”

“Do you know anything about my parents and the Malfoys?”

Charlotte’s eyes widened. “No, Miss Storm. I cannot say. Your mother and father forbid me from saying anything. Please do not ask again.”

She groaned in frustration. Why is everyone keeping her in the dark? “Do you know anything about the Malfoys that you _can_ tell me?” she quizzed the little elf. Charlotte squinted at her suspiciously.

“Hm… the Malfoy’s have a little house elf named Dobby. He is my friend. We’ve known each other for many years.” Charlotte gave a little smile. “But, I cannot tell you anything more than that. I apologize Miss.”

“It’s okay Charlotte. Thank you for sharing that with me.”

They continued to paint. She was almost done with her room. They had painted the ceiling a dark blue resembling the night sky. She had just finished painting the stars when her parents came home.

“Happy Birthday Darling!” Her mom exclaimed, walking into the room. “Wow, it turned out beautiful! Let me just add some finishing touches…” Her mother pointed her wand at the ceiling and mumbled a spell. Suddenly, the room was lit up with millions of tiny glowing orbs floating close to her ceiling making the room look exactly like the Ravenclaw common room.

“Merlin… how did you _do_ that?!” Aleia said in awe, reaching towards the small orbs.

“Just a little bit of magic.” Her mom winked at her. “Let’s head downstairs, you have a few birthday gifts waiting for you. And of course, your Christmas gifts as well.”

When she got downstairs, she found a large pile of presents waiting for her. Squealing in excitement, she began to open her gifts. Her parents put a medium sized box on the side, asking her to open that one last.

In the end, she got a leather-bound notebook from Harry, a cute crystal bracelet from Hermione, some chocolates from Ron, a new scarf from Theo and a few other presents from her other friends back at school. Daphne had gotten her a new eyeshadow palate. No surprise there. Even Malfoy managed to get her something. It was a small floating reading light shaped like an orb, reminding her of the stars her mom produced in her room. It was perfect. She gave her parents the gifts she got for them- a bottle of perfume for her mom and a new tie for her dad. They hugged her and thanked her for the gifts, then gave her the last box.

She opened it- it was a gorgeous black sequined dress. She ran to her room to try it on. It was short, landing right above her knees. It was long sleeved, with the sleeves made of a silky material that clung to her arms. She went back to the sitting room to show her parents, who gushed over how perfect it was for her.

“Thank you so much for this, it’s so beautiful.” She went to embrace her parents again. They took out one last box and let her open it. It was a necklace, with a tiny star charm dangling in the middle. She put it on immediately.

Aleia changed out of the dress, hung it in her closet and strolled back downstairs once more to eat dinner.

“Thank you for the gifts. They were perfect. But…what is the dress for?” she asked. They never took her to any formal events, so she really had no need for a dress that fancy. Unless…

Her parents gave each other that look again, and her dad nodded.

“We’ve decided that we will be attending the New Years’ party at the Malfoy’s this year.”

Aleia’s jaw dropped. First, they barely wanted to talk about it and now they were going?? She didn’t complain, but she was a bit curious about the change of heart. “What changed your mind?”

“Well…” her dad chimed in. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Malfoys, and we believe that it’s past due. We’ve sent Lola already to let them know.”

Aleia hugged them one more time.

“Thank you. This means everything to me. This is the best birthday slash Christmas ever.”

⚯͛

Before Aleia knew it, it was New Years. The invitation said that the party started at 5pm, so her mom took her to get her hair and nails done the entire morning. It was nice being able to spend time with her mom. Prior to starting at Hogwarts, her mom would take her on small “field trips” to the muggle world. Sometimes they would venture out to a bookstore or have a picnic date by the river. She missed moments like this.

They apparated back to the house, where her mom began working on her makeup.

“Did you ever go to parties like this mom?” Aleia asked.

Her mom took a deep breath. “When I was in school, I was best friends with Narcissa Malfoy. Narcissa Black, as she used to be back then.” Smiling wryly, she went on. “When her and Lucius were dating, we would go to these Malfoy celebrations all the time.”

“What happened? Why did you stop going?” Aleia stared at her bewildered.

“Narcissa and I had a… falling out. I haven’t spoken to her for 10 years.” Her mother sighed. “But that’s enough about me. Let’s finish getting ready.”

⚯͛

At exactly five, her mother went downstairs to meet her father. He looked nervous. Aleia snuck into the hallway by the staircase to see if she could overhear their conversation.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she heard her father whisper.

“We don’t have a choice John. Draco goes to school with her. He’s in the same house as our daughter for Merlin’s sake. We cannot continue to hide out like this anymore.”

“But- “

Charlotte appeared next to Aleia before she could hear the rest of their conversation.

“Are you ready to go Miss?” she questioned. Aleia nodded, then followed her downstairs. Her parents were waiting for her by the staircase. Taking her fathers’ arm, they apparated to Malfoy Manor.

⚯͛

Malfoy’s manor was stunning. They had a long driveway, guarded by a massive wrought iron gate that opened for them as they walked up to it. The driveway was lined with greatly maintained hedges, and for some reason they had white peacocks roaming around freely on their lawn. As they approached the front door, it opened for them just as the gate at the front opened. Narcissa, Lucius and Draco were standing at the door. Narcissa gave a little cry and ran up to her mother to embrace her. Her mother began to cry as well.

“Elizabeth…I’m so glad you came. I’ve missed you so much. I’m so sorry for everything.” Narcissa sobbed into her mothers’ arms.

Her mom pulled away from Narcissa, keeping her hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay Cissy. I know. I understand.” Giving her a sad smile, her mom stepped away and pulled Aleia forward.

“This is Aleia. My daughter.” Narcissa pulled her into a hug as well.

“My, you’ve grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were still a baby!” Aleia was speechless. She met the Malfoys when she was a baby?

Lucius Malfoy shook her dad’s hand and nodded at Aleia and her mother. “Thank you for coming. Please, make yourself at home and feel free to wander around.” He turned to her mother. “I assume you still know where everything is?”

Her mother nodded. Narcissa and Lucius walked off to greet the other guests, Narcissa still wiping the tears away from under her eyes. Draco came up to Aleia.

“The rest of our classmates are in the other sitting room.” He acknowledged her parents. “Very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Storm. May I escort Aleia to our friends in the other room?”

They agreed, told Aleia to stay close by and then walked away.

“Wow Draco, that was the most proper I’ve ever heard you speak.” Aleia taunted.

“Wow Aleia, I didn’t know we were on a first-name basis now.” He retaliated. Aleia snorted and followed him to the other room.

“You’re still Malfoy to me. There’s just too many Malfoy’s in the room to refer to you by your last name.”

As they walked into the room, she found that most of her other classmates were there already. Theo, Daphne, Tracy and Blaise were sitting around the fireplace. Crabbe and Goyle were standing by the door, waiting for Draco to come back. So loyal to their precious leader. Aleia held back a laugh. Draco looked at her curiously but Aleia was already greeting the others by the fire.

“Aleia! You made it!” Daphne got up and pulled her into a hug.

“Yeah, Draco said you were coming but I didn’t want to believe it until I saw you. How’d you get them to agree?” Theo wondered.

“I didn’t do anything. Like absolutely nothing. They just decided on my birthday that we were going.” She shrugged and sat down. “Thank you all for the presents though. They were great.”

The rest of the night continued like this. Her parents came by to check on her with drinks in their hand, but after she convinced them that she was okay and they saw that she was with Theo, they wandered off again. They played a few games of exploding snap, and Draco had one of his house elves bring out a case of butterbeer for them. After they all had a few drinks, they decided to play truth or dare. They started with Aleia.

“Aleia, truth or dare?”

“Hm…” Aleia thought. “let’s go with dare.”

“I dare you to drink an entire bottle of butterbeer.” Blaise smirked, noticing that she had barely touched her first bottle. Aleia glared at him and quickly drank the rest of her bottle.

“I meant, an unopened bottle of butterbeer.” He tossed another one too her. She sighed in exasperation, and drank that bottle too. She really could feel the effects now. Because she rarely drank, she was definitely a lightweight.

“Next person.” She pointed to Draco. “Truth or dare?”

He gave her a smug look. “Truth.”

“Why in the bloody hell do you have so many white peacocks?” Everyone roared with laughter as Draco’s cheeks went pink.

“My dad’s idea.” He snapped.

“He wanted the peacocks to match the color of your hair?” Aleia babbled. The butterbeer was unquestionably giving her a false sense of confidence.

“You already asked a question. I get to choose now. And since you asked that question _out of turn_ ,” he grinned sarcastically. “Aleia, truth or dare?”

“Truth.” She replied immediately. She didn’t want to risk having to drink another bottle of butterbeer.

“Is it true that you’re really shit at potions?” he jeered. She gasped.

“I am not!” she shook her head. “Not everyone can be a potions master Malfoy.” Glaring at him, she moved on. “Theo, truth or dare?”

“Uh… dare.” He sat up.

“I dare you to pet one of the peacocks.”

“What is with you and these damn peacocks!” Theo cursed, but got to his feet to complete the dare. The group followed him outside to watch. He had greatly underestimated the speed of the peacocks. He tried to sneak up on the first one, but stepped on a twig and as soon as he looked up again the peacock was gone.

Theo slowly started stalking another peacock. He got close enough to touch it, but accidentally pulled out one of it’s feathers. The group burst out laughing as the peacock began chasing after Theo around the lawn.

“Careful, they bite!” Draco shouted at him.

“Thanks _so_ much for your concern!”

They ran back inside, with Theo stomping in after them. He shoved the peacock feather in Aleia’s hands.

“Take it.” He grumbled. “To remind you of your first and last Malfoy party.”

Aleia sniggered. “That’s up to Draco to decide, not you”

⚯͛

Her parents came into the room shortly after. Her mom was stumbling a bit with her dad holding her up, but they looked in good spirits.

“Come here Aleia, it’s time to leave. Say bye to everyone.” Her dad held a hand out to her.

Waving goodbye to everyone, she walked back to the main room to give her thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Narcissa hugged her once more, telling her that she was welcome whenever she wanted, and Lucius gave her a curt nod. Taking her parents’ hands, they walked out of the manor and apparated back home. Aleia couldn’t have dreamed of a better night.


	6. Chapter Six – Cautions

Aleia was ecstatic. She was finally going to be able to fly again. An announcement was made at dinner the first night back that Madam Hooch was going to be holding flying lessons again. The notice was on their common room board when she got back to the room. There were lessons at the beginning of the school year, but her parents refused to sign the permission slip because they said it was “too soon”. But over the break, she had managed to convince them that it was perfectly safe. She didn’t mention about the incident between Malfoy and Harry at the first lesson, causing the remaining lessons to be cancelled for the time being.

She turned in her permission slip to Professor Snape in potions the next day. As she sat down, Blaise and Theo came to sit by her.

“Did your parents sign the form?” Theo asked excitedly. He attended the first flying lesson but signed up for the second one since they didn’t get to do any flying the first time.

Barely able to keep still, Aleia grinned. “Yes! I had to beg them for three days straight until they got tired of me asking and just signed it. I’m so excited!”

“So excited for what, loser?” Malfoy slid into the seat next to Blaise. “And stop with the over excessive grinning it’s annoying me.” Aleia stuck her tongue out at him. Even Malfoy couldn’t ruin her mood.

“For flying lessons!”

“Do you even know how to ride a broom, Storm?” Malfoy sneered at her.

“When you are done _socializing_ , please feel free to join the class in turning to page 364.” Professor Snape frowned at them. They all shut up and got back to work.

⚯͛

Aleia wrote a short letter to Harry that night.

_Hey Harry,_

_How was your break here at Hogwarts? Thank you so much for the journal by the way. I spent most of my break painting my room and writing. Nothing too exciting to report._

_Did you hear about the flying lessons? Of course, you won’t need to take them since you’re already on the quidditch team. But I’m so excited for it! I had to practice flying in secret back at home, but now I can do it without breaking any rules!_

_Aleia_

She didn’t want to mention anything about the Malfoy’s party. Since they started their first year, Draco and Harry have been at each other’s throats. She’s been meaning to ask one of them about it, but never found the right moment. Maybe she can sneak up on Malfoy again in the cave and ask him then.

That night, Aleia decided to sleep a little earlier than normal with plans to catch Malfoy in the cave again and watch the sunrise.

She regretted it as soon as she opened her eyes the next morning.

Having slept in the entire break, Aleia’s sleeping schedule was set to wake up way later than it currently was. She had to drag herself out of bed to get ready. After brushing her teeth, she couldn’t even bother to brush her hair so she threw it in a messy bun and wandered out to the cave. Malfoy was already there.

“Came to bother me again, Storm?” he called out to her as she walked through the pathway.

“Something like that.” She replied, yawning as she sat at the edge of one of the stones. The sun was already rising over the lake.

She watched as the suns’ rays slowly began to light up everything it landed on. Even the dark shadows in the forbidden forest couldn’t hide from the light. It creeped into the cave, warming up Aleia’s whole body. The lake had begun to thaw out from the winter, but it still had a thin layer of ice covering it. The reflection of the sun on the ice created a rippling effect on the cave ceiling. It was serene.

“I’ll leave you alone then.” Malfoy said, getting up and walking towards the entry way.

“Wait!” she got up and met him in the pathway. “I was going to ask you something.”

“What? I’m not really in the mood.” Malfoy grumbled. They walked together back to the cave opening.

“I’ve been wanting to ask, why do you hate Harry so much?” Malfoy stood still for a second.

“You get invited to one party and you think were best friends now huh?” Standing in the passageway, Aleia saw his eyes darken and his face turn angry.

“Why are you asking me about _Potter_ of all people?” He leered at her. “Wait I forgot, he’s your _friend_.” He pushed her against the cave wall. Her arm hit the wall at a weird angle, and she felt the rock cut into her skin. She took a sharp breath as the pain seeped in. Tears beginning to swell in her eyes, she looked up at him. There was a flash of guilt, and then it was gone.

“Stop putting your nose into other people’s business. Especially mine.”

He let go of her and walked back out into the main tunnel. Aleia was shocked. She had assumed that she was on good enough terms with Malfoy to be able to have a normal conversation with him, but she had guessed wrong. Rubbing her arm a bit from where it had hit the wall, she walked back to the common room. And how dare he push her! That was completely unnecessary! She was still upset about it when she went to breakfast a few hours later.

Her arm had a small scratch, not too deep but enough to leave a scab for a few days. She didn’t want to go to Madam Pomfrey for a scratch that small, so she just left it alone. She decided to sit by Hermione instead of at the Slytherin table today.

“Morning Hermione.” She greeted her, reaching for a slice of toast.

“Hey Aleia, how was your break?” Hermione asked.

“Hanging out with the cool kids, are we now?” Ron’s brothers Fred and George crammed their way on either side of her.

“We were waiting to see when you would defect from the Slytherins and join the best house.” Fred winked at her. Aleia laughed as she grabbed the jar of marmalade.

“I’m not leaving my house Fred, I just wanted to spend some time with you.” She said cheekily back at him.

“Aw thanks little one.” He chortled back.

“Where are Harry and Ron?” Aleia asked Hermione.

“Oh, they should be in soon. Probably sleeping in…”

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion coming from the front doors of the Great Hall. Neville was walking- no, jumping- his way into the room. Students from the other tables were pointing and laughing at him, his face turning a deep shade of red.

“Oh _Neville._ ” Aleia sighed. She quickly performed the counter-curse and the boy was able to walk the remainder of the way to their table.

“Who did this to you?” George demanded. But Aleia already knew who it was. The same annoying blonde git that pushed her this morning.

“Malfoy.” Neville whispered. Guess he was still upset from the earlier events.

“Neville, you have got to start standing up for yourself.” Hermione scolded him, passing the plate of toast over the table towards him.

“Hermione’s right.” Aleia agreed, nodding. “You can’t let someone as arrogant as him push you around like that! Whether it’s Malfoy or anyone else for that matter.”

Neville sighed, looking dejected. “I know, you guys are right.”

“Don’t let it get you down. Are you joining us for flying lessons today?” she questioned.

“No, not after what happened at the first flying lesson. My gran won’t let me anywhere near a broom anymore. Not even to clean!”

“That’s alright Neville. You’ll get over it soon enough.”

Grabbing one last piece of toast, she held it between her teeth while she packed up her things.

“I’ll see you later then! Are you coming to the lessons Hermione?”

Hermione shook her head. “You go without me! I’m going to wait for Harry and Ron.”

As she walked out of the Great Hall, she ran into Malfoy. He purposely hit her shoulder as he passed, not saying a word.

“Could you at least keep your hands to yourself bloody hell.” She mumbled under her breath. Without a backwards glance she kept her path down to the main lawn.

⚯͛

The flying lessons were moved to the quidditch stadium, which she soon found out. Gryffindor’s quidditch team had practice at the same time, so they halved the field. She saw Harry flying around on the other side and waved at him. The quidditch captain Wood was arguing with Madam Hooch about how “unfair” it is that we interrupted their practice. She heard her scold him sharply for his rudeness and pointed him back to his side of the field.

“Alright then. Now, step up to any one of the school brooms here. Come on, don’t be shy they won’t bite.” Madam Hooch lead each one of them to the awaiting brooms.

They were a bit worn down. The wood was chipping on a few of the handles, and some looked like they were in desperate need for a trimming. Aleia looked around, trying to find a decent looking one that wouldn’t give her splinters just by holding it. When she found one that was acceptable, she took her place next to it.

“Okay, now that everyone has a broom. Stick your hand out over the handle and say, up!”

Aleia did just that. The broom came shooting up at her before she could blink. She grinned widely, looking around to see if anyone else was as successful as she was. Only a few other students had done it, the rest of them needed assistance from Madam Hooch. Her eyes landed on Theo, who sneakily had bent down and grabbed the broom off of the floor. He noticed that she was watching and gave her a warning look, daring her to say something. She just chuckled and turned back to Madam Hooch for the next directions.

The next step was to mount the brooms. As she pulled a leg over the broom, she could feel the buzz of excitement. She could have sworn that she felt the broom vibrate beneath her. She was ready to _fly._ On the other end of the pitch, she could see that the other Gryffindor players were watching curiously, along with Harry who sent her a thumbs up. Even Wood had given up trying to get them to focus and was watching the first years with the rest of them.

They had all heard about Neville’s first flying experience. It happened during this step- the broom managed to lift on its own once he mounted it and Neville was unable to get himself down. Madam Hooch took extra precautions this time, bewitching the brooms so that they wouldn’t leave the ground until she allowed them to.

“Okay students. I will be coming around one at a time, and each of you will have a chance to fly for a bit today. But I warn you, there will be severe consequences if anyone does not follow my specific directions, or if you fly when it is not your turn. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Madam Hooch.” They all called out.

Theo was first. When Madam Hooch removed the locking spell from his broom, he flew upwards about ten feet off of the ground, then made his way back down. Everyone clapped as he landed, and he did a little bow as he got off of his broom.

The nerves of the group seemed to calm down a little bit after Theo. Some students were allowed to go higher than others, while Madam Hooch rode her broomstick next to them to monitor their progress. And then, it was Aleia’s turn. She mounted her broomstick and kicked off of the ground once Madam Hooch unlocked her broom. Ascending upwards, she kept the handle steady while she focused on where she wanted to go.

“Very good! You’re a natural.” Madam Hooch said appreciatively. “Let’s go ahead and make a quick circle around the field before we come back down.”

They flew a little bit higher, then began to circle the field. She loved the feel of the wind against her face, blowing through her hair and making her feel _alive._ Aleia hadn’t gone to any of the quidditch matches earlier this year because she didn’t want to see other people flying while she couldn’t. Seeing the field from this angle was a completely different experience. She was so distracted that she didn’t realize she was going straight towards the goal post.

“Aleia watch out!” she heard someone yell.

Right before she was about to hit it, she made a sharp turn to her right. She missed the post by inches. Back down on the field she heard the other students cheer. Breathing hard, she turned back to fly back to Madam Hooch when she felt the broom twitch beneath her.

_Oh no._

Aleia had a second to think before the broom hurled itself forward and she lost her grip on the handle. She felt herself slip off of the broom, and the next moment, she was falling.

“Aleia!”

Before she could comprehend what was happening, she felt someone grab her arm and pull her up.

“Harry!”

He slowly brought her back to the ground and let her off. She turned around and threw her arms around him.

“Harry, you saved my life!”

He looked at her concerned. “It was nothing. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay thanks to you. I can’t thank you enough.” She gasped, still trying to catch her breath.

“Miss Storm!” Madam Hooch started towards her. “What happened up there? You were doing fine!”

“I’m sorry, I got distracted seeing the field for the first time.” She shrugged, embarrassed.

“Well next time pay attention. Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll be okay.”

Madam Hooch stomped back to the other students, ending the lesson for the day.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Harry asked her again.

“Yes, I promise I’m fine. Thank you again Harry.” She hugged him one more time, then walked back to the rest of the class.

Theo was the worst. He nearly burst into tears when she met up with him. He grabbed her and pulled her into a suffocating hug.

“I thought I was going to see you die!” he wailed. “Your father would have killed me next!”

She tried to push him off. “You’re being dramatic, I’m fine. It could have been worse.”

“Yeah but I’m supposed to make sure you don’t get hurt; I can’t break my promise!”

Aleia paused to look at him. “Promise? To who?”

“Your parents, duh. You really think they’d let you come to this school without someone watching you?” He let her out of the hug, throwing an arm around her shoulder instead. She shrugged his arm off.

“My parents made you my _babysitter_?” she spit out, feeling her anger rising. Theo noticed the shift in her tone and put his hands up in surrender.

“Hey, wasn’t my idea.”

She glared at him. All this time she thought that she was free from having a “shadow” follow her around everywhere. Thinking back, she did see Theo everywhere she went.

“Did they force you to follow me around the castle too?” she snapped at him.

“Well…no,” he stammered. “I didn’t follow you into your dormitories or the bathroom.”

She almost screamed. So he did follow her everywhere. Ignoring him, she stormed off back to the castle.

“Aleia wait!” Theo called out to her.

“DON’T follow me Theo!” she yelled at him. “I’m tired of being treated like a CHILD.”

Her thoughts were all jumbled, and she was so frustrated that she could have punched the wall. She made her way back to the dungeons and went to the one place she knew she could be alone.

When she got to the cave, she threw off her shoes and went to sit on one of the rocks next to the lake. The ice had melted, and the lake was clear. She sat at the edge and slowly dipped her feet in. It was freezing, but it helped to cool her down a bit.

How could her parents do that to her? She knew they were overprotective, but she didn’t know the lengths they would take to keep her under their watch. Her whole life she’s been followed, watched, and monitored. She didn’t know what true privacy was, because she's never had any.

She sighed. She would apologize to Theo later; it wasn’t his fault. Taking her feet out of the water, she moved towards the cave wall and leaned back against it. It was quiet, and she felt grateful that she had a place to escape to. Even if it was her mother that told her about it. She sat in the cave until the sun went down. It started to get colder, so she made her way back to the main tunnel.

As she walked out of the entrance to go back to the common room to warm up, she ran into someone.

“For Merlin’s sake I can’t get away from you.” Someone grumbled.

“Malfoy? It’s past curfew where are you going?”

“None of your business. Just go back to the common room.” He demanded. She shook her head.

“No, I want to know what you’re doing.” She challenged. He groaned.

“I’m trying to catch Potter and his stupid friends with a dragon okay? I saw it back in Hagrid’s cabin. They’re meeting up with another Weasley brother at the astronomy tower to get rid of it and I’m going to catch them in the act. Okay? Now leave me alone.” He ran out of the dungeons.

Harry has a dragon? What are they doing with a dragon? She couldn’t let Malfoy get them in trouble, especially since Harry had saved her today. Making her decision, she ran after Malfoy. She learned a few shortcuts in the past few months and made it to the astronomy tower fairly quick. Glancing around, Malfoy wasn’t there yet. Thank goodness. But she didn’t see Harry and his friends either.

“Aleia? Is that you?” Something whispered from the crates behind her. She jumped back in surprise. There was no one there.

Then, out of nowhere, Harry, Ron, Hermione and a small dragon appeared in the darkness.

“ _Merlin_ where did you come from?” She put her hand over her chest in surprise.

“Invisibility cloak. No time to explain. Ron’s brother should be here any time soon.” Harry motioned towards one of the open archways of the tower.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Ron asked suspiciously.

“I came to warn you about Malfoy, but it looks like you got here before him”

They snickered. “Malfoy won’t be a problem. He got caught by McGonnagal.”

Oh well. It was his fault for following them anyways. Before she could reply, they heard people landing on the balcony.

“That’s my brother!” Ron exclaimed, walking towards the archway.

Harry turned to Aleia. “Can you keep watch while we meet with them?”

“Of course.” She motioned for them to go, then turned to keep watch.

After about five minutes, they came back inside. Seeming more relieved, they made their way back down the tower. They were in good spirits and told her about how Hagrid had got the dragon egg and what the dragon did to them.

“It even bit my finger! Look!” Ron shoved his finger in her face. It still pretty swollen, and tinged green a bit but looked a lot better than what he had described. She could see the little teeth marks where the dragon had bit him.“Madam Pomfrey didn’t believe me when I said it was just an animal bite. I just didn’t go into detail about what animal it was.”

They turned around a corner to another corridor and ran straight into...Filch.

“Well well…what do we have here?”

⚯͛

They all ended up with detentions. Filch had brought them to Professor McGonagall once he caught them. To their surprise, Draco was there too, sulking. He glared when he noticed Aleia with them, and completely ignored her. Harry, Ron and Hermione had fifty points each taken from them. Harry had convinced McGonagall that Aleia had no part in it, and she got away with just a detention. Draco managed to not lose any house points as well. Filch lead them back to the Slytherin common rooms, while McGonagall took the Gryffindors.

As soon as they got into the room, Draco began to yell at her.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” He growled, pushing her on the couch. She shrunk back into the cushions. Malfoy was furious.

“If my father was to hear about this… if YOUR father was to hear about this, we’d both be dead.”

Hearing about her father brought back the anger that she felt before. She sprang off of the couch to yell back at him but stumbled backwards. She felt lightheaded and started to feel nauseous.

“Shit… I forgot you fell today. Sit back down I’m sorry I yelled at you. Just don’t pass out on me.” He grabbed her arms to steady her and lead her back to the couch. She instantly felt better once she sat back down. Still, she frowned at him. He saw her staring at him and ran his hand through his hair in irritation.

“Look, I’m sorry for being mean to you. And I’m sorry about your arm. I just get angry easily and you don’t really help with that. I’ll try to be nicer, since our parents are friends and they told me to be nice to you.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m going to my room. Try not to die, okay?”

After he left, Aleia curled up next to the fire and fell asleep, dreaming about broomsticks, quidditch, and flying dragons.


	7. Chapter Seven - Detentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: I did change the detention group a bit from the original book. Instead of Neville, Ron will be in detention with them as his dragon bite healed before they met up with Charlie in the Astronomy tower. Okay, back to the story! ⚯͛

After the event in the astronomy tower, Aleia found herself hanging out with Harry, Ron and Hermione more. Breaking the rules seemed to melt away any of the previous tension she had with Ron, and of course Hermione and Harry were always pleasant towards her. They hung out either in the library or the Gryffindor common room. Nobody in Gryffindor seemed to have a problem with her being there, besides Percy of course.

Percy was another one of Ron’s older brothers (seriously, how could someone have so many siblings?) and he was one of the Gryffindor prefects. Every time he saw her in the common room, he would walk up to them and announce to the whole room that “students from _other houses_ were not allowed in the common room”. Then Fred and George would steer him away before he could formally kick her out, and Aleia was free to stay.

It was different hanging out with the Gryffindors. Their common room was cozy. The red and yellow colors everywhere gave off its own warmth, and their fire was always lit. The other Gryffindor students would wave to her or greet her like an old friend. As much as she loved her own house, some of the Slytherin students could appear very cold and indifferent.

One afternoon in the library, they told her about their investigation on Professor Snape. Apparently, they managed to break into the locked third floor corridor and found a giant three headed dog. Hermione said there was a trap door under it. They believed that Snape was trying to get to whatever the dog was guarding.

“And Hagrid let it slip that it’s guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone!” Harry explained.

Aleia looked at him incredulously. “Really? The Sorcerer’s Stone is here, at Hogwarts?”

“Yes! And Snape is trying to get the stone to resurrect Voldemort!”

She and Ron winced at the name.

“Could you _try_ to not say the name mate?” Ron muttered.

Aleia cut in. “But I thought you said Professor Snape is one of the Professors guarding the stone?” she questioned.

“Yes, but he’s trying to figure out how to get past the dog! He probably knows the rest of the obstacles already.” Harry shook his head. “And he’s evil, Aleia.”

“I know Professor Snape can be rude and mean, but do you really think he’s working with you-know-who?” Aleia sat back in her chair. “And besides, why would Professor Dumbledore hire him as a teacher, _and_ ask him to guard the stone if he was after it?”

She started to pack up her books. “I really don’t think it’s Professor Snape that’s trying to get through.” She thought for a bit. “Did you think about the other teachers? What about Professor Quirrell? He always looks like he’s trying to hide from something.”

They all laughed.

“There’s no way it could be Quirrell. I’m pretty sure he’s afraid of his own shadow! Imagine him working with he-who-must-not-be-named.” Ron snorted.

“Alright maybe not Quirrell. But I have a feeling it’s not Professor Snape.” Grabbing her bag, she got up to leave. “I’ll see you at detention tonight.”

Harry groaned. “Why’d you have to remind us?”

⚯͛

When Aleia got to the Slytherin common room, she was surprised to see Daphne there waiting for her. The latter grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the couches by the warm fire.

“You have detention tonight?” Daphne asked.

“Yes, because of that stupid stunt on the astronomy tower.” Aleia crossed her arms. “Why do you ask?”

“I heard that they’re sending you to the forbidden forest!” She cried, taking Aleia’s hands into her own. “If you die, I want you to know that you have been the best friend/roommate ever.”

Aleia stared at her. “Forbidden forest? How do you even know that? And I am not going to die!”

Daphne explained, “I heard McGonagall talking to Filch about it after Transfiguration. She said that it was too harsh but Filch said Dumbledore was okay with it.”

Aleia took a deep breath, trying to look unbothered. “It won’t be that bad. They can’t send us in there by ourselves, a teacher or someone will be with us.”

Or so she had hoped. She had heard stories about the forbidden forest and the creatures it held. Werewolves, giants, trolls, just to name a few. It was forbidden for a reason. What would they be doing in the forest anyways? Picking flowers? She had hoped to take a short nap before the detention, since they didn’t have to meet Filch until 11pm but she found it hard to clear her mind.

Deciding to stay in the common room, Aleia took out her books and worked on homework to pass the time. Thankfully, the common room stayed mostly empty. A few students came by to say hi but left after a few minutes. The light coming from the windows began to dim as the night went by. She was halfway through her defense against the dark arts essay when she was interrupted.

“Theo. To what do I owe the pleasure?” she sighed, looking up from her paper.

“What? I can’t just sit in my own common room and grace you with my presence?” Theo looked at her, eyes wide.

She shook her head. Knowing it was only a matter of time before the rest of the group arrived, she attempted to rush through the rest of her essay. Until it was ripped out of her hands.

“Is this the defense against the dark arts essay?” Blaise asked, waving the paper in the air. “I haven’t started it yet, mind if I take a look?”

Aleia growled at him. “Zabini I swear if you don’t give that back, I’m going to hex you! It’s not even finished yet!”

Blaise laughed and handed it back to her. “Geez Aleia relax. It’s not like Professor Quirrell would notice. He’s always off in his own world.”

“The other day, I heard him talking to himself in his office after class. Saying things like “I need more time”, and something about crazy creatures.” Theo chimed in.

“He probably spends too much time reading those Defense textbooks.” Malfoy drawled, walking into the common room. He glanced at Aleia. “Ready for detention, Storm?”

“Of course.” Aleia lied. In reality, she was still freaking out over Daphne’s comments. After bringing her book bag back to her room, she met Draco by the common room entrance.

“Wonder why they’re making us do our detention this late.” Malfoy muttered as they walked through the dungeons.

“I have no clue. Maybe they just want us to clean or something.” Aleia didn’t tell him what Daphne said. She thought maybe if she kept it to herself, it wouldn’t happen.

⚯͛

They met up with Filch at the grand staircase where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were already waiting. Filch looked overjoyed that so many kids were being punished. He led them out of the castle onto the castle grounds. Aleia felt her stomach turn. They were walking towards the forbidden forest.

Filch was going on about the punishments he used to give to students before, something about hanging and chains but Aleia blocked him out. She was too anxious to think about anything else. It was dark outside, even with the light coming from Filch’s lamp. The shadows of the trees loomed ominously on the ground, and the clouds were blocking out most of the moonlight. She turned to look at Malfoy, who looked as nervous as she felt. She locked eyes with him and gave him a small nod of encouragement. He looked away. They took a turn by the greenhouses and began down the path to Hagrid’s hut to the very edge of the forest. Hagrid was waiting outside for them.

“Oi’ Filch. Haven’t been scaring these students with your horror stories have ya’?” He turned to smile at them. “Charlie sent me a letter about lil’ Norbert. Or should I say, Norberta?” He grinned.

“No way! Norbert was a girl?” Ron gawked at him. He grabbed his hand, the one that Norbert had bit just a few weeks ago as if he was remembering the pain he went through.

“Yup! I hope she’s doing okay.” Tears began to fill in his giant eyes, dropping into his beard. “What if the other dragons don’t like her? What if they’re bullying her?” Hagrid cried.

“Get yourself together mate!” Filch seethed. Turning to the rest of them, he frowned. “Don’t you think that just because you’re with Hagrid that it’ll be a fun night for you. You’ll be exploring the forbidden forest tonight.” Filch sneered at them.

“The forbidden forest?” Malfoy interjected; eyes wide in panic. “You can’t be serious?”

Aleia glared at him. “It’s not like we have much of a choice, do we?”

“Yeah Malfoy. If _someone_ hadn’t told on us, we all wouldn’t be here.” Harry turned to glare at him too.

Malfoy walked up to Harry until they were face to face. “If my _father_ were to hear about this –“

Hagrid interrupted him. “He would tell you to that you shouldn’t have gotten yourself in trouble in the first place.” He growled.

“I’ll be back at dawn, if there’s anything left of you.” Filch started back to the castle.

“Alright now. We’ll be breaking up into two groups. Harry, you go with Aleia and Malfoy. I’ll be with Ron and Hermione.”

Malfoy made a choking noise. “How are we supposed to protect ourselves without a teacher?”

Hagrid motioned to his dog. “Fang’ll be with you. None of the creatures in this forest will go near him.” Hagrid went on. “There’s been something in the forest attacking the unicorns. This is the second attack this week. You see this shiny silver stuff?” He gestured to the ground near the edge of the forest. Just by the light of the moonlight, they were able to see small puddles of silver liquid splattered on the dirt.

“So…we have to find the unicorn?” Aleia asked Hagrid, who nodded.

“Yup. It must be badly hurt if it’s bleeding this much. Might need to put it out of its misery.”

They broke into their groups. Hagrid acknowledged them once more before they split up. “Remember, if you find anything or you get into trouble, just send up red sparks into the air and we’ll come find you.”

⚯͛

They went along on different paths. Ron, Hermione and Hagrid to the right, and Harry, Malfoy and herself to the left. Their path was overgrown with weeds and bushes. Harry and Malfoy walked ahead of them, wand out while Aleia stayed a little behind them. It was eerily quiet, nothing but the sound of Fang’s panting and their footsteps crunching in the leaves. None of them said a word.

Aleia walked a little faster to catch up with Harry. “What do you think is attacking the unicorns?” She asked him.

“I have no idea.” He shrugged, glancing around in the darkness.

“It’s probably a werewolf or a giant or some type of creature that we shouldn’t even be dealing with by ourselves.” Malfoy rambled.

As he spoke, Aleia heard something in the trees nearby. “Malfoy shut up.”

He looked taken aback by her comment. “Shut up? You asked the question!”

She threw her hand over his mouth. “Shut _up._ I think I heard something.”

With Harry and Malfoy behind her, Aleia lead the way towards the sound she heard. As they got closer, she saw the puddles of unicorn blood on the ground. She pointed them out to the others. Their eyes got big, but they stayed silent. They continued forward, following the trail of unicorn blood to a small clearing between the trees. It was completely dark; they could barely see outside of the reach of their wand light.

Malfoy whispered shakily, “Sh…should we send up the red sparks now?”

Aleia shook her head. “It might scare off the unicorn.”

There was a fallen tree at the edge of the clearing. The unicorn blood trail lead towards that area, so they continued to follow the path. There, they found the creature.

It was laying on the ground, obviously already dead. It was a beautiful animal. Its coat was bright white against the darkness of the forest. The unicorns’ mane was just as blindingly white as its coat. But they didn’t notice any of that. Because there was another creature hovering over the unicorn, silver blood dripping from its mouth. It lifted its head and began to rush towards them, fast.

Malfoy let out an earsplitting scream, grabbed her hand and began to run.

“Harry! Run!” She screamed, but they were already out of sight. “Draco! The red sparks!” She managed to get out.

As they ran, Malfoy said the spell and red sparks went flying in the air like fireworks. After getting far enough away, he slumped against one of the trees. Aleia collapsed on the ground, out of breath and freaking out.

“What. Was that.” She gasped.

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out.”

Just then, Hagrid, Ron and Hermione burst through the trees.

“What happened?!” Hagrid yelled. “Are you all alright? Where’s Harry?”

Aleia shook her head. “We don’t know. We found the unicorn, and something was drinking it’s blood and we just ran for it.”

The blood drained from Hagrid’s face.

“You lot stay here. I’m going to find Harry. Stick together!” Then he ran off.

Hermione came running up to her and hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re okay. What did you see?”

“I can’t remember that much, it was so dark. We heard something in the trees so we followed it deeper into the forest. There was a trail of unicorn blood so we followed it. We found the unicorn in the clearing, but there was something floating over it. It was so creepy.” Aleia shuttered.

Ron turned to Malfoy. “Was that you that screamed? We heard it all the way from the other side of the forest.” He jeered.

Malfoy scowled at him. “No, that was Aleia that screamed you stupid git.”

Aleia was too exhausted to argue, so she just agreed with him. After shooting him a dirty look.

Harry and Hagrid appeared a few minutes later, accompanied by a centaur that introduced himself as Firenze. He was large than a normal horse and had the torso of a grown man. Aleia had never seen a centaur in her life. She was sure that the rest of them had never seen one either, judging by the looks on their faces.

She hugged Harry, glancing over him to make sure he wasn’t injured.

“I’m okay Aleia, really. Firenze got to me in time to scare off whatever that was.”

“Why didn’t you run after us Harry?” she questioned him.

He began to explain but was interrupted by Firenze.

“Harry Potter. It was very nice to meet you. I’m sorry I cannot accompany you out of the forest, but I’m sure we will meet again soon.” He bowed to the rest of them and left back into the darkness.

Hagrid huffed in frustration. “Bloody couldn’t tell me anythin’ that made sense.” He motioned for them to follow him. “Let’s get you lot out of this forest. I reckon you had enough for one night.”

They walked behind him in silence, drained from the night’s events. Aleia couldn’t get the picture of the hooded figure out of her mind. She kept seeing it in her head, blood falling from its hidden mouth. She began to imagine its face, merging together the scariest creatures she’s known into one face. Even as they got back into the castle, her hands were shaking.

Hagrid brought them to the entrance of the school, told them goodnight and walked back down to his hut. She said goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione and followed Malfoy back down to the dungeons. He glanced at her and noticed her trembling hands. He stopped walking.

“Aleia.”

She looked up at him.

“Don’t think about it. Better yet, forget about this entire night. You’ll feel better for it.”

Aleia couldn’t answer him. She looked down and they kept walking until they reached the common room.

“Don’t tell anyone that was me that screamed. My family reputation would be ruined.” Malfoy said quietly.

She laughed at this. Not a big laugh, but enough to make her feel a little better. “No promises. Goodnight Malfoy.”

“Goodnight Aleia.”


	8. Chapter Eight - Curiosities

The days that passed after the detention was a blur to Aleia. She barely slept. She blamed exams for this but in reality, it was her dreams that kept her awake at night. Every night, just as she fell asleep, her mind would be plagued with shadow figures and unicorn-killing monsters. Once those images interrupted her thoughts, she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. On normal occasions, the sound of the lake against the walls would soothe her to sleep but it just wasn’t enough to scare away the nightmares.

She spoke with Harry about this a couple of days after the event. He was having nightmares too. Ron and Hermione couldn’t sympathize since they never saw the creature.

“We think that it was Voldemort. It had to be.” Harry told her one day in the corridors. Several students stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of the name.

“Could you say that name just a little bit softer when were around other people?” Aleia grunted through clenched teeth. “How do you know?”

Harry looked just as tired as she was. Under his glasses she could see dark circles beneath his eyes, and he spoke a little slower than usual. “Firenze mentioned it when he was bringing me back to you guys. He said that unicorn blood can keep someone alive, even if they were inches from death. It has to be him. He’s drinking the blood until he can get his hands on the stone. And Snape is helping him.”

“Here we go again with Professor Snape. I’m telling you, it’s not him.” But Harry ignored her.

“We’ll find out soon enough. We just need to hope that he doesn’t find a way to get past Fluffy.”

“Fluffy?” Aleia looked at him questionably.

“Yeah, the three headed dog we told you about. One of Hagrid’s many pets.”

They met up with Ron and Hermione in the library. Hermione had a stack of books next to her piled higher than her head. Aleia knocked on one of the book towers to get her attention.

“Knock knock. Can I join you?”

Hermione peered over the pile and smiled. “Of course. I’m studying for Professor Flitwick’s exam. He mentioned that there was a written portion and a practical portion. I hope I remember everything.”

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” Aleia told her. A few tables over, Malfoy was sitting with Crabbe and Goyle. He met her eyes and nodded at her. They haven’t spoken to each other since detention that night. Being honest, she’s been avoiding him. He was just another reminder of what she saw that night, and she knew he wouldn’t be as supportive as Harry was if she told him what she was going through.

Tearing her gaze away from him, she buried herself in one of her textbooks. She was reading something about trolls when she fell asleep, her head resting on her palm.

_She was no longer in the school library. Instead, she was alone and surrounded by giant trees that towered over her so high she could barely see the night sky. It was dark, and she had no wand. Alone, defenseless and cold, she wandered around the forest trying to look for someone, a light in the distance, anything. She had wished for freedom and isolation, but not like this. This was terrifying. Leaves crunched in the distance. Her blood turned cold. It was the same sound she heard in the forest. Unable to help herself, she followed the direction of the sound._

_“Closer… clossssser…” a voice whispered in the darkness._

_“Who are you?” she stammered, stumbling through the trees._

_She heard a sinister laugh. “You foolish girl. You already know who I am.”_

_A figure appeared directly in front of her, only inches away from her face. It was the figure from the forest, only now it had a face. It was pale white, cheekbones gaunt against his skin. His eyes were snake-like and bright red. He sneered at her while the silvery unicorn blood dripped from his mouth. He reached out a hand to grab her…_

“NO!” She screamed. She flew back out of her chair and fell to the ground, grasping at her chest barely able to breath. It was a dream. And… she was still in the library. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Madam Pince, the librarian, came running up to her.

“This is a library child, not a shouting match. Take it outside or go to Madam Pomfrey.” She huffed at her, pulling her back up from the ground. Without saying a word to the others, Aleia grabbed her books and walked out. She was exhausted, unable to sleep and now she was falling asleep having nightmares in the middle of the library. Maybe she should see Madam Pomfrey.

⚯͛

She decided to go back to her room instead. Walking fast into the dungeons trying not to meet anyone’s stares, she made it to her room in record time. As soon as she got there, she dropped face first into her bed. What she would do to get a good night’s sleep for once. Someone knocked on the door.

“Hey Aleia.” Daphne walked into the room, holding a small vial in her hand. “I heard what happened in the library.” She looked at her sympathetically.

“Great. So now the whole school knows, naturally.” Aleia grumbled.

“Nah, everyone likes you so they just want to make sure you’re okay.” Daphne gave her a weak smile. “You can talk to me you know. If you want.”

Deciding it was for the best, she told Daphne everything. About how they got detention and about the hooded figure haunting her dreams. The only part she left out was Harry’s theory about it being Voldemort. That was Harry’s story to tell, not hers.

“So, I’ve been having nightmares about this thing and I haven’t had a full night of sleep since detention. I’m so worried about the exams tomorrow, I don’t want to fall asleep in the middle of the test!” Aleia rambled. Daphne held out the little vial she had in her hand.

“Take this. It’s from Draco. He told me about what happened in the library and asked me to give you this. Said he got it from Madam Pomfrey and he had a little bit left. Guess he was having the same nightmares too.”

Aleia took the vial from Daphne. There was a tiny note on it.

_For dreamless sleep_

She turned back to Daphne. “Thank you Daph. I really appreciate you checking on me.”

“Of course. That’s what us Slytherins do. We’re a brotherhood.” Daphne saluted at her. Aleia laughed at this.

“Where did you get that from?”

“Something the prefects had told us. Now drink up, we have exams tomorrow and you need all the sleep you can get.”

Aleia drank the entire vial. Lying back into her bed, she began to feel heavy. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, and for the first night since that awful event, she slept.

⚯͛

She woke up the next morning feeling more alive than she had in a while. Stretching her arms out, she sat up in her bed to check if anyone else was awake yet. But no one was there. Aleia got up and threw on a loose-fitting sweater and leggings. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes were finally gone, and her face didn’t look as pasty anymore. With a nod of approval, she finished washing up and made her way to breakfast.

“Aleia!” Daphne waved at her as soon as she walked in. She sat in the empty seat next to Theo and began making her plate.

“Merlin Aleia you actually look decent today!” Theo joked. She flashed him a rude hand gesture and shoved a piece of bacon in her mouth. The group began to talk about the upcoming exams.

“I heard they put anti-cheating spells on the quills that we have to use.” Daphne pointed her quill at Theo. “So don’t even think about trying to copy off of me Nott.”

Theo looked at her aghast. “I would never! I’m smart enough to pass my own test for your information.” He pouted at her.

“What’s the first exam?” Aleia said, her mouth full of food. Theo gave her a look of disgust as small piece of bread flew out of her mouth and on to his arm. She smiled at him apologetically.

“Charms with Flitwick.” Daphne told her.

Aleia wasn’t too panicked about this test, she had studied with Hermione the other night and felt quite confident in the subject now. They finished up breakfast and made their way to the charms classroom. The desks were spread out in rows, so that no one would be able to peek at someone else’s test answers. For extra precaution, they had assigned seating. Aleia ended up behind one a Ravenclaw boy she recognized from her potions class, and Malfoy was in the seat next to her.

Before the exam started, she scribbled a little note saying _thank you_ , and discretely placed it on his desk as she passed him to her seat. He opened the note as she sat down. When she glanced at him again, he gave her a small smile and his usual curt nod.

The written portion of the exam was easy, and Aleia was one of the first to finish. Surprisingly, Theo had finished before her. Hermione was next to turn in her test, then Malfoy. Hermione gave her a little thumbs up as she passed by.

Their practical exam was a little more difficult. They were tasked with making a pineapple tap dance. Aleia did okay in this; her pineapple did a little tap dance but got tired after 10 seconds and collapsed on the desk.

The next exam after Charms was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. This was a practical exam where they had to turn a mouse into a snuffbox. Aleia made a beautiful gray colored box with little emerald jewels on the borders but lost a point because Professor McGonagall had found one short whisker sticking out from the corner of the box. After the test, Aleia had complained all night about it to Hermione while they studied for potions in the library.

Out of all the exams, she was dreading potions the most. It was hard to keep up with the many ingredients going in and making sure that each step was done in order. Potions was like baking, and Aleia was horrible at baking. They left the library earlier than usual that night to make sure they had enough rest for the tests the next day.

The potions exam wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be. They had to make a forgetfulness potion, which was one of the potions she had studied the night before. As she brewed the potion, she looked around the class to see how everyone else was doing. Malfoy looked almost bored as he made his potion compared to Neville, who looked like he was about to pass out. In the end, she produced a satisfactory potion. When Professor Snape came to her cauldron to examine it, he gave her a small nod and moved on which meant that she did okay.

The last exam they had was History of Magic with Professor Binns, which ended up being completely uneventful. Unlike the Charms classroom, Professor Binns hadn’t bothered to move the desks around so they were still close enough to peek over at their classmates’ answers. Aleia tried to finish the exam as quickly as possible before she fell asleep out of boredom. Then finally, they were done.

Curiously, Harry, Ron and Hermione went running out of the classroom as soon as the exam finished. She followed them for a little while to see where they were headed off to, but they disappeared out of sight. Aleia decided to sit on the stone steps outside, just to enjoy the sunshine and the light breeze. Daphne and the boys found her on the steps and decided to join her.

“How do you think you did?” Daphne asked her.

“I honestly feel really good about my results. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be.”

Daphne looked at her in shock. “Really? Not even the History of Magic exam? I had the hardest time trying to remember all of the dates and events.”

“Think you did good enough to beat me?” Theo wagged his eyebrows at her. She had almost forgotten about the bet they had made at the beginning of the year.

“I have no doubt that I’ll beat you Theo. I saw you peeking at my paper in the History of Magic.” She teased him.

They all laughed. Daphne had suggested they all go into the Great Hall for snacks, and mostly everyone followed her.

“Coming Aleia?” Daphne questioned.

“I’ll join you later.” She told her, and the group left. Only Malfoy had stayed behind, leaning against one of the nearby walls.

“How are your nightmares?” he asked her softly.

She tensed a bit. “Gone, mostly. Thanks to the potion you gave me. I might need to stop by the hospital wing to get more if they come back.”

“That’s good.”

They sat in silence for a while longer, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Suddenly, she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione hastily running up the stone steps looking panicked.

“Hey, what’s up with you three?” She got up to talk to them, but they ran past her.

“It’s tonight!” Harry yelled to her, running down the corridor.

 _Tonight?_ She thought to herself. _What’s tonight?_

Then it dawned on her. The third-floor corridor. The stone. Someone was going to try and steal it _tonight._

“What was Potter going on about? Tonight?” Malfoy looked at her, searching for answers.

“Um… it’s nothing. Going over the exams with Hermione tonight.” She lied. Malfoy squinted at her, obviously seeing right through her lie.

Aleia rushed to change to change the subject. “Let’s go to the Great Hall and get some food with everyone else.”

Still looking curious Malfoy agreed, and they walked to the Great Hall. Aleia had to find a way out of the common room tonight.

⚯͛

It was late. Everyone had to be asleep by now. Aleia put on a warm sweater over her shirt and tip toed down to the common room. As expected, it was empty.

 _That invisibility clock would be so helpful right now._ She thought as she creeped around the school corridors. They had told her they were going to try and get to the stone before someone else did, but she had to make sure they were okay. The castle was eerily silent without students wandering about. The shadows cast from the statues made her jump every now and then.

She chose not to use her wand to light her path, just in case she ran into Filch or Miss Norris. Detention was not in her plans, especially with summer break so near. Aleia knew exactly where the third-floor corridor was, but the journey was a lot farther than she expected from the dungeons. The paintings in the area began to look familiar, so she knew she was almost there. As she turned one of the last corners before the corridor, she saw a light at the end of the hallway. It was _Filch!_

She stumbled backwards in a rush, only to hit something behind her. Or someone. She was about to let out a loud scream when someone covered her mouth.

“Shut it! It’s only me.”

“Malfoy?!?” Aleia whipped around. There, standing behind her was Draco Malfoy himself. They ran into one of the nearby classrooms to hide from Filch.

“Were you following me?!” Aleia whisper-yelled at him.

“I knew you were going to join Potter in whatever idiotic scheme they had planned tonight, and I wanted to catch them. So yeah, I followed you. Where are you going anyways?”

Aleia glared at him. “It’s none of your business what we’re doing!”

Malfoy smirked. “I told you last time, now it’s your turn.”

“If you _must_ know. There’s a magical item that’s hidden in the third-floor corridor and someone is trying to steal it. We were going to try and stop them.” Aleia spit out.

“Well… I’m going with you then.”

“WHAT? No you are NOT!” Aleia shook her head. If Malfoy was to follow her, Harry would literally kill her.

“Not like you have a choice. I’m coming, whether you like it or not.” Malfoy crossed his arms. She sighed. She really didn’t have a choice.

“Fine. Let’s go then, they’re probably already there.”

The pair peered out of the empty classroom to make sure Filch was gone and ran to the corridor. The door was already slightly open. Malfoy grabbed the handle and wrenched it open. What they didn’t expect to see was the giant three headed dog as soon as they walked into the room.

Malfoy made a run for it, sprinting to one of the corners of the large room. Aleia had heard about Fluffy from Hermione, but she greatly underestimated the size of the dog. Fluffy was almost as tall as the ceiling, it’s ears brushing against the beams at the top. Each of the three heads were as big as Hargid’s hut, and all three were currently faced towards Malfoy who was cowering in the corner. The dog’s chain was the only thing keeping it from eating Malfoy alive.

“Do something!” He screamed at her.

Thinking fast, she shot red sparks at the Fluffy’s three heads to distract him. It worked, and as soon as the heads turned towards her she yelled at Malfoy to run. But now the dog was approaching her, jaws snapping mere feet away from her. She tried to think of the spells she learned this year but couldn’t think over her fear.

Then she saw it. There was a small harp in the corner of the room.

 _That has to be what calms it down!_ She realized.

She pointed her wand towards the harp and it began to play. Immediately, the dog sank back down and fell asleep. Its body was laying on top of the trapdoor, so there was no way they would be able to get in. Grabbing Malfoy, they ran out of the room. If that was only the first challenge, she could only imagine the dangers Harry, Ron and Hermione were facing.

Malfoy looked like he was going to faint. His face was as white as a sheet, and he was taking short breaths.

“I am _never_ following you again Storm.” He vowed, leaning against the wall.

Once their breathing returned to normal, they began to walk back to their common room. Aleia was still nervous about her friends but didn’t know whether to wake up one of the teachers for help or to just let the trio fight their own battles.

They began to hear footsteps walking quickly towards them. Panicking, Aleia looked around for somewhere to hide but there was no way out. A light shined right into their faces.

“What are you two doing out of bed?” It was Dumbledore.

Aleia didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved. “Professor it’s Harry! He went into the third floor corridor to protect the stone!” she croaked.

Dumbledore looked concerned. “Aleia, please wake up Professor McGonagall and tell her what happened. Then I want you two to go straight back to your common room, do you understand?”

They both nodded, and Dumbledore took off. They rushed to wake Professor McGonagall who looked surprised to see two Slytherin students at her door. Quickly explaining what happened, Professor McGonagall left them, instructing (as Dumbledore already told them) to go straight back to their rooms.

Once they had made it back to their common room, they sat on the armchairs near the fire.

“What do you think is going to happen now?” Draco asked her.

Aleia didn’t know how to answer. She knew her friends were in danger, but now that Dumbledore was there, she knew they would be okay.

“I don’t know Malfoy. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

She could only hope that she would see them tomorrow, safe and unhurt.


	9. Chapter Nine- Changes

It turned out she was absolutely right about Professor Quirrell.

The entire school found out about Harry’s encounter by lunchtime the next day. Thankfully, Aleia and Malfoy didn’t get in trouble for wandering the halls after curfew. The staff were more concerned about the three students in the hospital wing. The morning after the event, Aleia had gone to the hospital wing the moment visiting hours started to check on her friends.

Harry was still knocked out. Madam Pomfrey had told her it would be a few days before he woke up after what he went through. Hermione and Ron were already awake, and they were quick to tell Aleia the entire story. They were able to get past Fluffy easily, much to her surprise. After the exams, they had gone down to Hagrid’s and he accidentally told them that Fluffy falls asleep to music.

“That’s where you lot went after the exams!” Aleia had interrupted.

“Harry figured it out in the middle of the exam. He thought it was strange that the stranger Hagrid met in the Hog’s Head just so happened to have a dragon egg.” Hermione explained.

They told her about the Devil’s Snare and how Ron was freaking out (though he was quick to say otherwise). The next door lead them to a room full of flying keys that Harry had to catch by flying on a broomstick. Which must have been easy for him, since he is the Gryffindor seeker.

“Then, we had to play wizard’s chess! But on a giant chessboard!” Ron said excitedly, despite the large bruise on the side of his head. “It was wicked. I got to be a knight, and of course we won. I never lose in wizard’s chess.”

“But if you didn’t lose, what happened to your head?” Aleia looked at him confused,

Ron glanced at her sheepishly. “Well, the only way for us to win was for me to sacrifice myself to the Queen. So it knocked me out.”

Hermione continued, “We had to leave him on the side and move on to the next door. Sorry about that Ron.”

“S’okay I get it.” He mumbled.

Then apparently Hermione had to figure out a riddle about potions which she figured out within minutes, of course. The potion she took brought her back to Ron.

“So I woke up Ron, and then we ran as fast as we could out of there. We ran into Dumbledore, who showed us how to get out. Then he ran after Harry. We still don’t know the full story about what happened. We do know that Professor Quirrell was behind everything the whole year!” Hermione finished.

Aleia looked at her smugly. “I was right then, wasn’t I?” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“I guess so. But anyways, Professor Quirrell is gone. He was being controlled by you-know-who. That was Quirrell drinking the unicorn blood that day in the forest.”

Aleia felt like a weight was lifted off of her chest. The cause of her nightmares this whole time was Professor Quirrell, not a scary mythical forest creature. Even if he was being possessed by the darkest wizard of all time, the thought didn’t seem as frightening anymore.

Hermione and Ron were released later that day, but they continued to visit Harry regularly until he woke up. The table next to him was filled with sweets and gifts. Once word got out about what had happened, so many people came to visit that the bed next to his was filled with sweets as well.

On the third day, the same day as the end of year feast, Harry finally woke up. Dumbledore had come up to Hermione and Ron at breakfast to let them know. They grabbed Aleia from the Slytherin table, and they went as a group to the hospital wing once more.

Harry explained his side of the story to them. He started with the fact that Quirrell had you-know-who’s face plastered on the back of his head.

“That’s bloody disgusting.” Ron gagged.

Then Harry told them about the sorcerer’s stone and how it appeared to him in the Mirror of Erised and ended up in his pocket. Professor Quirrel couldn’t touch him, which he thought was weird.

“Every time he touched me, it was like he got burned.” Harry told them.

Once he finished his story, it was almost time for the end of year feast.

“By the way Aleia, what happened to you? Dumbledore told me that it was you that told him we were in trouble.” Harry asked.

Aleia paused for a moment, unsure if she should mention Malfoy or not. She chose to not mention him.

“I tried to follow after you but ended up getting blocked by Fluffy. When I ran out of the corridor, Dumbledore was already on his way to you. I think he already knew what happened.” Aleia shook her head. “I swear, it’s like he knows everything that’s going on in this castle.”

They left the hospital together to the Great Hall for dinner. Aleia left them to join her friends at the Slytherin table, who asked her to tell them everything. She left out the part about you-know-who, instead telling them that Professor Quirrell tried to steal the stone for himself.

“I didn’t know the scared git had it in him.” Theo said thoughtfully.

“I don’t think anyone did.” She replied as Dumbledore stood up to address the students.

He began by talking about how eventful the school year was and how he hoped that the students actually learned something this year. Aleia wasn’t paying attention, she was still busy munching on a slice of pie. Until he began talking about the House Cup.

“So far, the points are as followed. In last place, Gryffindor with three hundred and twelve points.”

The Gryffindor table gave a weak sort of applause while glaring at Harry, Ron and Hermione. The trio looked down at their plates. Even though they had almost died, they still lost a large portion of points from the astronomy tower incident.

“Next, we have Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty-two points.”

The Hufflepuff table clapped politely, though none of them looked really disappointed.

“In second place, we have Ravenclaw with four hundred and twenty-six points, which leaves Slytherin with four hundred and seventy-two points.”

The Slytherin table roared in celebration. Banners of silver and green draped the Great Hall, the Slytherin emblem in the middle. Aleia joined in the celebration, making a toast with Daphne and high fiving Theo. Even Draco rapped his glass on the table in applause.

Dumbledore waited for the noise to die down. Then he dropped the bomb.

“However, we do have a few last-minute points to announce.”

Aleia’s spirits immediately fell, along with the rest of her table. Everyone looked around in confusion. This was different than the past years.

Dumbledore continued. “To Ronald Weasley. For the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years. I award him fifty points.”

The Gryffindor table began to clap slowly, still confused at what was going on. But Aleia knew exactly what was about to happen. She just didn’t want to believe it.

“To Hermione Granger, for her display of cool logic in the face of fire, I award her fifty points.”

The Gryffindors finally began to catch on to what was happening, and they clapped and chattered in excitement. The Slytherins on the other hand were gaping at Dumbledore in disbelief.

“To Harry Potter.” Everyone went silent again. “For showing pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award him _sixty_ points.”

Everyone went wild. Gryffindor was now tied with Slytherin.

Dumbledore lifted his hand once more, asking for silence. “And lastly, while it may be difficult to stand up to your enemies, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your friends. To Mr. Neville Longbottom, I award ten points.”

And Gryffindor won the house cup. The silver and green banners were replaced with red and gold ones, the Gryffindor lion replacing the Slytherin serpent. Aleia’s house was frozen in shock. They could not believe what had just happened. Even as the feast came to an end, nobody had said a word as they walked back to the common room. Aleia hung in the back and after catching Theo and Malfoys gaze, she motioned her head towards their secret cave entrance.

Once everyone had walked out of sight, they snuck into the passageway. Down the path, they didn’t talk. Malfoy had kicked a few rocks out of his way with his hands in his pockets. Theo just walked with his head down. When they reached the cave opening, they sat on one of the larger rocks along the edge of the lake.

“It’s not fair.” Theo mumbled quietly. “I won a good amount of those points.”

“We all did.” Malfoy replied to this, skipping a small rock on the water.

The sun had already gone down, and the stars reflected on the surface of the black lake. It was a full moon tonight, and the light shone down on them as they sulked.

“You know, Dumbledore was in Gryffindor.” Aleia added in. This didn't help the mood. 

Even though Harry, Hermione and Ron were her friends, she had still wanted to win the house cup just like everyone else. And she didn’t think they really deserved _that_ many points for what they did. But then again, life isn’t always fair and it doesn’t do them any good to brood on it.

“Hey, we still have next year. And we still got second! It could have been worse. We could have lost to Hufflepuff.”

Theo gave a dark chuckle. “I’d rather lose to Hufflepuff than to Gryffindor.” But he sighed. “I guess this just gives us motivation to beat them next year, right?”

He lightly punched Malfoy in the arm. Malfoy didn’t react.

“I’m getting on the quidditch team next year if it’s the last thing I do. I’m going to beat Potter for this.” He grumbled.

“Come on Malfoy, lighten up. We have the whole summer before we have to come back here. And I’m staying at your place for half of it since our fathers have that conference thing. It’ll be great.” Theo told him.

“You’re staying at the Malfoys?” Aleia questioned him. Normally they have a family retreat sort of thing during the summer.

“Yup. And you’ll probably be there too.” Theo winked at her.

Aleia groaned. It was going to be a long summer. She looked around at the school grounds once more. Going home is going to feel so different now. After what she had experienced this year, things were never going to be the same again. All she had to do was get through this summer and she’d be back on the Hogwarts Express before she knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap on Sorcerer's Stone! If you read this far, thank you so much. This is my first time posting anything and I hope it's not too bad. My focus for this work is character development, so if it seems too slow, this is me attempting to give more depth to each character. Short mention that I am not claiming any of the Harry Potter characters as my own, only Aleia Storm. Warning: It is a slow slow burn to allow the characters to grow into each other so hold on for a bit! I appreciate any feedback, so please feel free. Chamber of Secrets will be next! More drama to come.


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